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The Sinocism China Newsletter 07.07.14

"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

抗战爆发77周年 -腾讯网live broadcast of Xi Jinping speaking at commemoration of 77th anniversary of Marco Polo Bridge Incident that officially started China’s war with Japan. Top leadership attended, China really stepped up the coverage this year, today is probably a good day for Japanese in China to stay inside

Related:China Focus: Website launched to promote Nanjing Massacre memorial – Xinhua Li Gaoshan, a 90-year-old survivor of the Nanjing Massacre in World War II, on Sunday pressed a button to launch cngongji.cn, a website designed to promote commemoration of the tragedy. In February, China’s top legislature set December 13 as a national memorial day for Nanjing Massacre victims. Previously, memorial services were mostly limited to the province of Jiangsu, where Nanjing is located. The launch of the website will lead a series of commemoration activities preluding the first national memorial later this year.

New Offices Reflect Growth of Busy Anticorruption Agency – NYTimes.com Nearly every day brings news on the commission’s growing website of new detentions, as the country’s biggest antigraft campaign in decades deepens. Yet while the corruption it is facing is very widespread and severe, “some of the cases are difficult to deal with firmly,” Huang Shuxian, the minister of Supervision and deputy party secretary of the commission, said in an article published in many Chinese media outlets on Thursday. His comments pointed to frustrations in the commission at its structure and staff levels, and difficulties in catching powerful targets who may be shielded by their political connections.

Related:China’s top graft-buster says no off limits in probes | Reuters Speaking during a visit to the northern region of Inner Mongolia, Wang Qishan, who heads the party’s efforts to combat corruption, warned that every part of the party would be liable for inspection. “Inspection work is a ‘health check’ for the party. There are no off limits for oversight within in the party, and there are no exceptions,” the party’s graft watchdog cited Wang as saying, in a statement issued late on Friday.// 王岐山在内蒙古调研时强调加强党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争 要用好巡视这把“利剑”

Related:开设党风政风监督举报曝光专区–时政–人民网CCDI’a use of the Internet is very interesting. Now it is launcing special section on its site to highlight positive behavior and expose bad behavior by officials. and to name and shame those who are caught breaking Xi’s 8 guidelines… // 据介绍，党风政风监督举报曝光专区主要设立三块内容：一是“作风建设”，介绍地方和部门加强作风建设的好经验好做法，指导和推动工作；二是“作风监督举报”，直接受理对“四风”等问题的举报投诉，设立纠正“四风”直通车，引导和方便党员、群众和媒体积极参与监督，当反“四风”的“千里眼”，深挖“四风”问题的“隐身”“变种”“反弹”“回潮”；三是“点名曝光”，发布全国查处违反八项规定精神的情况，曝光违反八项规定精神的典型案例，持续形成震慑。

Related:Anti-graft organ to publicize inspections feedback – Xinhua From March to May, Chinese central authorities made routine inspections in Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hainan, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. At the same time, they also inspected the Ministry of Science and Technology, China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation, and Fudan University. Inspection panels have delivered feedback to those inspected. It will be made available on the official website of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection. The authority did not specify when this would happen.// 中央巡视组巡视反馈情况将公布

China Focus: Timetable set for new fiscal system: minister – Xinhua Major reform tasks concerning the fiscal and tax system will be completed by 2016, before a modern fiscal system will be built by 2020, Lou Jiwei said in an interview with Xinhua. In Lou’s words, deepened fiscal and tax reforms will not be mere amendments to current policies; rather, they will involve systemic restructuring and institutional innovation. He said the years 2014 and 2015 will be vital in pushing forward the reforms.

PBOC Wades Into Fiscal Waters as China Boosts Stimulus – Bloomberg While the PBOC hasn’t publicly commented on the extra funds, some analysts treat the information as credible. Shen Minggao, Hong Kong-based head of China research at Citigroup Inc., wrote in a July 1 report that the initial amount of relending was about 400 billion yuan. He said in an interview he believes the number is accurate though he can’t verify it. Relending is good for providing targeted funds, yet it’s doing what fiscal policy should do, said Dong Tao, head of Asia economics excluding Japan at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. “The relending loans are given to certain institutions that we all know are close to the policy implementation,” Tao said.

China Faces Yuan on Yuan as U.S. Decries Weak Currency – Bloomberg Among the half-dozen U.S. Treasury officials traveling to Beijing for talks with their Chinese counterparts this week, Sharon Yuan will, as usual, carry the heaviest suitcase. Yuan’s stuffed gray Travelpro befits the scope of her two jobs. As head of the department’s trade and investment policy and its chief China coordinator, she often arrives before her colleagues and makes multi-city stops

Shadow of Brutal ’79 War Darkens Vietnam’s View of China Relations – NYTimes.com During the current tensions, the anti-Chinese sentiments of the Vietnamese people seem to have run ahead of the country’s ruling Politburo. “People in Vietnam want to be outside China’s grip,” said Pham Xuan Nguyen, chairman of the Hanoi Literature Association, who protested against the oil rig outside the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi. “But the Vietnamese people are wondering what is the strategy of the government, and wondering if the government is really against China or compromising.”

Related:Q. and A.: Lyle Goldstein on China and the Vietnamese Military – NYTimes.com Prof. Lyle J. Goldstein, associate professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, is well qualified to examine the capacities of the Chinese and Vietnamese militaries. The two armies worked together in Vietnam to topple the French in the 1950s, and to defeat the Americans in the Vietnam War. In 1979, the Chinese invaded Vietnam — to teach its neighbor a lesson for invading Cambodia, said Deng Xiaoping — and the Chinese retreated with stunning casualties in less than a month. That humbling experience was an impetus for the Chinese to begin the modernization of their armed forces.

“秘书六人组”殊途同归_政经频道_财新网long Caixin story on the 6 men who once served as secretaries to Zhou Yongkang and are now detained…Does not refer to Zhou Yongkang name, rather takes a Voldemort approach with references like “former Politburo Standing Committee member” and “Zhou Bin’s father”

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

Guest post: China rebalancing is a dangerous obsession – beyondbrics – Blogs – FT.com China’s problem is not that investment is too high, but that underdeveloped capital markets have meant investment has been funded through the wrong financing model. Too much has been funded by short-term bank lending, sometimes through non-transparent local government vehicles or other parts of the shadow banking system. This creates a duration mismatch, as many of these projects have returns that accrue over a long period of time. The real rebalancing challenge is therefore more subtle. It involves changing the way investment is funded by improving credit supply through a more developed credit market, improving access for small and medium-sized enterprises, and expanding the local government bond market to fund long-term infrastructure investment…The obsession with rebalancing China’s economy is instead leading to misguided policy recommendations that are too blunt, and which may carry unintended consequences.–This piece was written jointly by Qu Hongbin and John Zhu, HSBC’s Greater China Economist.

Chinese Tycoon Guo Copying Buffett Rises From Bread to Club Med – Bloomberg “Our focus going forward is on sectors where the life of China’s middle class can be upgraded: health, travel, leisure, education and the Internet,” said Guo, chairman of the $48 billion-asset Fosun Group, whose fortune is estimated at $5.7 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. “We call it marrying China’s growth with global resources.”

China Vanke June Sales Up 44% to RMB 19.4B Amid Real Estate Slump | Mingtiandi So far this year, China Vanke has achieved RMB 101 billion in sales – an increase of 20.6 percent compared to the same period last year, and says that it is on track to achieve its 2014 sales target of RMB 200 billion. The company’s performance was up 14.6 percent in terms of square metres sold during the period from January to June, reaching 8.21 million square metres for the year to date. Of that total, 1.74 million square metres were sold in June.

Urban sprawl: People, not paving | The Economist Chenggong was connected to Kunming’s new metro network last year. City-government offices and local universities have already moved there. By 2016 it will have a $525m bullet-train station with one of its 30 tracks connecting to Shanghai, 2,000km (1,200 miles) to the east. By the end of this decade the population of Chenggong is expected to reach nearly 1m, three times its current level. Not so long ago Chenggong was derided as a ghost city in the making. Few are now so scornful.

South China Mall comes alive again with the allure of food｜WantChinaTimes.comif this is true then the media orgs that flew lemming-like to film this ghost mall should return and tell the story of how the ghosts were exorcised…unlikely I know, but at this point I think much more interesting than another rehash of the ghost city story is how some of them appear to have worked through the issues, and at what cost. // On June 1, Dongguan’s South China Mall scored a record as its stores scrambled to serve crowds of 80,000, as the mall suddenly came to life from a ‘ghost city.’ The turnaround was made possible by extensive renovations to the facility, costing 200 million yuan (US$32 million), before the mall reopened early this year. It had previously been dubbed as the ‘world’s largest shopping center.’

Why FATCA Could Make It Harder For Rich Chinese to Hide Their Wealth – China Real Time Report – WSJ China is getting something in return for its agreement. In exchange for giving financial information to the U.S. about its citizens and green-card holders, the U.S. will give China information about Chinese taxpayers in the U.S., according to people involved in the discussions. The negotiators expect to clear the legal hurdles necessary to make that happen, according to lawyers and people involved in the discussions.

PRD Megacity Emerges: Subway to Connect Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen | TheNanfang Details of the tri-city subway system that will interconnect the public transportation networks of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen have been announced, reports Yangcheng Evening Report. The subway line will extend from Xintang, Baiyun Airport to Guangzhou North station. Costing RMB 3.44 billion, the subway line will consist of 13 subways stations,

U.S. companies feel a chill in China, even as many still rake in profits – The Washington Postcertainly the age of special treatment is // In a possible sign of the growing disenchantment, U.S. investment in China fell 9.3 percent in the first five months of 2014 compared with the same period last year. Although such numbers are volatile, the decline in investment from Europe was even bigger. “Perhaps the golden age for multinationals in China is over,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of investment advisory firm BDA.

Chinese Law Prof Blog-Creditor bank sues local government financing vehicle over unpaid debt Any non-central government guarantee of LGFV debt is invalid and legally worthless, full stop. And this is over and above the fact that even if the guarantees were legally valid, a creditor could not win a case and enforce a judgment against an unwilling guarantor government. What is remarkable is that creditors still continue to believe in these guarantees, and possibly quite improperly carry these loans on their books as if they were guaranteed.

Cars Beating Homes Shifts Steel Use in China: Chart of the Day – Bloomberg “The steel-price premium may widen again over the next six months as a slowing property market weighs on rebar demand, while purchases of automobiles and white goods will remain robust,” said Xu Xiangchun, chief analyst in Beijing at Mysteel Research. Investors who sell rebar and buy hot-rolled coil will be making “a profitable trade,” he said.

POLITICS AND LAW

China Vitae : Biography of He Lifeng He Lifeng, male, Han nationality, is a native of Meizhou, Guangdong province. He was born in 1955, attended the graduate school of Xiamen University, and joined the CPC in 1981. He was elected secretary of the Quanzhou City CPC Committee of Fujian province in 1998, and he became secretary of the Xiamen City CPC Committee in 2005. He Lifeng wa an alternate member of the 17th CPC Central Committee and Deputy Secretary of the the Tianjin CPC Municipal Committee. He is now an Alternate Member of the 18th CPC Central Committee. In June 2014, he became Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Committee.

Xi’s Anti-Corruption Campaign Signals Power Play for 2017 – Bloomberg Amid front-page attention in state media on the party’s expulsion of China’s onetime deputy military chief this week, two personnel moves received scant focus. The nation’s top economic planning agency got a new deputy in He Lifeng, and Ying Yong was named vice party chief of the financial hub Shanghai. The promotions of the two, colleagues of Xi earlier in his career, are the most recent high-profile examples of his efforts to appoint proteges. China’s top leadership team serves a maximum of 10 years, with a reshuffle at the half-way mark that signals the next party head and sees new members of decision-making bodies picked. The more allies Xi, 61, elevates before 2017, the greater sway he may have securing influence after he retires.//think a mistake to view it as just a power play; of course that is part of it but that is not the only impetus

Official urges further “mass line” implementation – Xinhua The campaign is in its key stage, and more strength should be exerted with its approaching to the end, according to Liu, a Standing Committee member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau. The campaign was launched in June last year to make government more accessible to the public while cleaning up officials’ undesirable work styles. The second phase of the campaign is scheduled from January to September 2014, targeting more low-level departments and leaderships, while the first phase focused on central and provincial-level departments.

The Advent of a National LAN in China « China Change – Mo Zhixunothing impossible but this I think is fairly low probability event…and if it gets to this point then there are much bigger problems // If the Chinese government wants to test how far it can go to clamp the internet, a national LAN is not as unlikely as some may think. Once the regime becomes determined and China is technically capable of such a separation, the day will come when personal users in mainland China will turn on their desktops, laptops, or cellphones only to be connected to a national network. The overseas websites that can be accessed by circumventing the GFW will become unreachable. This might sound like too pessimistic, or even desperate, a vision, but what force could prevent it from coming about? There are no technical barriers too great, nor social consequences too severe, to stop it from happening.

Tudou Encounters a “Hot Potato” In Distributing A “Bite of China” | China IPR – Intellectual Property Developments in China On June 23, 2014 the Supreme People’s Court released five “model cases” decided by the lower courts, which for the first time included an IP-related case, CCTV International [央视国际网络有限公司] vs. Shanghai TuDou Network Technology Co., Ltd. [上海全土豆文化传播有限公司]. These model cases, as I have previously blogged are an effort to instruct the lower courts and the public on how IP cases are adjudicated, and are an effort to establish a kind of “case law with Chinese characteristics.” The case has been briefly discussed by Jerry Fang at the Supreme People’s Court Observer website. “A Bite of China” is a food documentary. It was filmed by CCTV. It was first broadcast in May 2012. One week after broadcast Tudou.com offered a link to watch the video on-line. CCTV thereafter sued Tudou for damages and reasonable costs.

万庆良情妇许小婉还撂倒另外广东俩市委书记Wan Qingliang’s mistress was previously involved with two other Guangdong officials who went down for corruption? // 许小婉和合伙人这些年敛了多少钱，无法核实，但罗荫国、谢伟朋被她们牵着鼻子走，一步步走向了犯罪深渊，这是不争的事实。行业内许多人也见证了这对“情妇合伙人”的能耐，一名知情人透露，要想在两地承包工程、提拔升迁，找到“情妇合伙人”其中之一，准能搞定。

High-level officials monopolise party promotion mechanism, study finds | South China Morning Post The process for selecting and promoting Communist Party officials is deeply flawed, research by its Organisation Department has found. Top leaders were monopolising promotions, nepotism was rampant and appointments were bought and sold, it said. The findings came after the department, which is under the Central Committee, sent teams out across the country and distributed questionnaires to more than 3,000 cadres in 16 provinces, the People’s Daily reported yesterday.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

China’s Xi invites South Korea joint effort on Japan’s wartime past | Reuters Xi made his comments during talks with the speaker of South Korea’s parliament, as the two countries’ ties with Japan are tested by what they see as Tokyo’s failure to atone for its occupation of the two countries before the end of World War Two. “In China, there is a saying, ‘Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future,'” Xi said. Xi and South Korean President Park Geun-hye share concerns about Japan’s decision to lift the ban on collective self-defense, Park’s office said.

Chinese president Xi Jinping to visit four Latin American countries – Xinhuadoes Xi work harder at foreign relations than Obama does? // Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay state visit to Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba from July 17 to 23, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday. Xi will also attend a summit of the BRICS nations and a meeting between Chinese and Latin American and Caribbean nations’ leaders in Brazil.

中央军委领导集体露面指导民主生活会|民主生活会|中央军委_新浪新闻top PLA brass lead Democratic Life Meeting, show support for mass line education campaign // 新华社北京7月6日电 (王玉山、毛俊) 按照党中央、中央军委开展党的群众路线教育实践活动安排，中共中央政治局委员、中央军委副主席范长龙，中共中央政治局委员、中央军委副主席许其亮，中央军委委员、国务委员兼国防部长常万全，中央军委委员房峰辉、张阳、赵克石、张又侠、吴胜利、马晓天、魏凤和，近期分别到各自的第二批教育实践活动联系点，参加指导党委专题民主生活会，强调要坚持持久用力，常抓长治，一以贯之抓好作风建设，不断巩固发展教育实践活动成果。

German doubts grow about reliance on the Chinese market | World news | The Guardian The nightmare scenario of an “Asian Crimea”, such as a standoff with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China sea, was actively discussed in German government circles last month, according to Hans Kundnani of the European Council of Foreign Relations: “There is an increasing sense that Germany’s close ties with China could become very problematic.” While growth of the Chinese export market looks certain, concerns over the profitability of Chinese-German joint ventures persist, with Chinese companies accused of reverse-engineering foreign technologies.

The Ally America Needs – Dennis Blair – POLITICO Magazine(Ret.) Adm. Dennis Blair // Japan’s vision, objectives and democratic values are in near complete agreement with those of the United States. What Japan is doing on security will make it a stronger and better ally and partner. So, although the decision to change the constitution is clearly Japan’s to make, and it has sparked some controversy in Japan, the United States needs to offer its ongoing support as Japan develops legislation to operationalize its new stance.

“Snow Dragon” prepares for North Pole – Xinhua China’s icebreaker “Xuelong” (Snow Dragon) is all set to leave its Shanghai base next Friday to embark on a sixth expedition to the North Pole. A total of 128 scientists and crew, including six foreign experts and one from Taiwan, will take part in the 76-day trip, which will mostly focus on environmental research in the polar region, officials from the Polar Research Institute of China said yesterday. The team will set up eight short-term and one long-term observation stations on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean.

Chinese Engagement in Africa: Drivers, Reactions, and Implications for U.S. Policy | RAND The authors find that Chinese engagement in the region is primarily concerned with natural resource extraction, infrastructure development, and manufacturing, in contrast to the United States’ focus on higher-technology trade and services as well as aid policies aimed at promoting democracy, good governance, and human development. African governments generally welcome engagement with China, as it brings them political legitimacy and contributes to their economic development. Some segments of African society criticize Chinese enterprises for their poor labor conditions, unsustainable environmental practices, and job displacement, but China has been modifying its approach to the continent to address these concerns. China and the United States are not strategic rivals in Africa, but greater American commercial engagement in African markets could generate competition that would both benefit African countries and advance U.S. interests.

Which Germany Should Modern China Emulate? | The National Interest So both the similarities and the differences between Communist China and Imperial Germany yield insight — making this a comparison worth undertaking. The upshot? That Germany, the strongest European power of the day, was the easier nut of the two for a leading sea power to crack. That’s a sobering prospect as we peer ahead. James Holmes is Professor of Strategy at the Naval War College and coauthor of Red Star over the Pacific, just out through the China Academy of Social Sciences. The views voiced here are his alone.

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

China’s top paper dismisses fears Hong Kong autonomy being eroded | Reuters “Experience proves the center keeps its promises, and the center’s basic policy towards Hong Kong is completely correct,” it said. Hong Kong’s long-term stability and best interests could only be guaranteed by following Beijing’s “one country, two systems” policy, the newspaper wrote. “The center’s basic policy towards Hong Kong has, from the very start, not changed, and there will certainly be no change,” it added.

SCMP Staff Clash with Editors Over Tiananmen Censorshipit was an excellent project, surprised it was published frankly // One project that senior staff attempted to dilute was the acclaimed ‘Voices from Tiananmen’ multimedia project. Multiple sources confirmed that the recent piece came under heavy last-minute scrutiny, following many weeks of preparation. Staff firmly opposed an attempt to ‘kill’ the feature and, after a strong show of resistance, senior editors backtracked and it was eventually published.

Hong Kong Police Arrested Five Organizers of July 1 Rally – Bloomberg Hong Kong police today arrested two men and three women aged 22 to 60 involved in organizing a July 1 protest march, for not following police instructions and obstruction, according to a government statement. Among the five taken into custody, a 60-year-old man was arrested for vacating a vehicle without having stopped the engine and and a 40-year-old woman was arrested for giving false information, according to the statement.

TECH AND MEDIA

Uber posts job listings for second-tier cities in China–TechinAsia According to a post on LinkedIn, Uber is looking for general managers, operations managers, and community managers (that’s the core triad for each team) in Chongqing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Qingdao, Ningbo, and Suzhou. It’s also looking for staff in Kaohsiung and Taichung for Taiwan, along with Macau.

Facebook Said to Rent Beijing Space in First China Office – Bloomberg The company signed a three-year contract in May to lease more than 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) of office space in the Fortune Financial Center in Beijing’s central business district, said the people, who asked not be identified because the transaction isn’t public. Facebook hasn’t started outfitting the space, which has views of the Forbidden City, they said. // really far views since it is on the third ring road, though it is the second highest building in beijing now

China Exclusive: Record-breaking Transformers stun China – Xinhua “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” earned 630 million yuan (about 101.6 million U.S. dollars) in its opening weekend in the Chinese mainland. The amazing sum, which is almost equal to its ticket sales in North America, left “The Breakup Guru,” a domestic romance also debuted on June 27, far behind. “Transformers 4,” has broken several records in China, including the biggest opening of 200 million yuan, compared with the previous 122 million yuan, set by “The Monkey King.”

Alibaba-Backed Kuaidi Challenges Uber in China With BMWs – Bloomberg Kuaidi is targeting wealthy travelers with a new smartphone application as it partners with chauffeur companies in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, Chief Executive Officer Dexter Lu said in an interview. The new cars include the 5-Series from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Audi AG’s A6.

Amazon Shuffles Executives In China – ChinaTechNews.com Amazon announced that Doug Gurr will replace Steve Frazier as the new president of Amazon China. Meanwhile, Frazier will be transferred back to the Seattle headquarters and continues to work as global vice president of the international business unit.

Mobile game publisher iDreamSky files for $115M Nasdaq IPO | VentureBeat | Big Data | by Emma Lee, TechNode iDreamSky Technology, a Chinese third-party mobile game publishing platform, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a Nasdaq IPO to raise up to $115 million. As a game publisher, iDreamSky distributes third-party games that published and operated on its platform through both proprietary distribution channels and third-party channels, such as app stores and device pre-installations. The company’s proprietary distribution channels include in-game cross promotions, its self-operated iDreamSky Game Center and gaming community Uu.cc.

China Ousts Foreign Servers for Local Brand, People’s Daily Says – Bloomberg China is replacing imported servers after the successful trial of a local brand by a state-owned bank as the nation steps-up a campaign for information security, the official People’s Daily newspaper reported today. Inspur Group Ltd.’s Tiansuo K1 system has replaced imported servers “in large quantity” after its successful use by China Construction Bank Corp. (939)’s Xinjiang branch, People’s Daily reported, citing Wang Endong, chief designer of the system. The paper is the official newspaper of China’s Communist Party.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Panhandlers Dressed as Monks Confound New Yorkers – NYTimes.com They are mostly men of Chinese descent, with shaved heads, beatific smiles and flowing robes of orange, but sometimes brown or gray. They follow a similar script: Offering wishes of peace and a shiny amulet, they solicit donations from passers-by, often reinforcing their pitch by showing a picture of a temple for which the money seems to be intended. Then they open a notebook filled with the names of previous donors and the amounts given.

FOOD AND TRAVEL

Quackery: In Beijing, A New Museum to Roast Duck – China Real Time Report – WSJ Beijing has dozens of museums, but the latest museum to join its ranks is a particularly distinctive one: It’s devoted exclusively to roast duck. Located at a downtown branch of Quanjude, one of the city’s most famous roast duck restaurants, the museum opened its doors this week to the public. The opening was timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Quanjude’s founding. Though foodies might not tout Quanjude for its quality, there’s no doubt that when it comes to quantity, the restaurant knows its business. Since its founding in 1864, it’s expanded with about 100 branches worldwide, including locations from Rangoon to Melbourne.

BEIJING

Beijing mulls higher bus, subway fares|Policies|chinadaily.com.cn Residents can comment on fare pricing plans from July 3 to July 20. It is the first time Beijing has solicited public opinion before raising prices. Any changes will be based on suggestions and a public hearing organized before any increases. To ease traffic congestion, Beijing reduced bus tickets to as low as 4 jiao ($0.06) and two yuan ($0.32) for subway tickets ahead of the Olympics in 2008. Since then, prices have not changed. Recently, huge losses by the system and safety concerns about overcrowded vehicles have led to suggestions that prices need to rise.

JOBS AND EVENTS

Legation Quartervery useful // Legation Quarter is a project dedicated to helping people learn about international affairs events happening around Beijing, and to building a community of people interested in attending them and discussing the questions they raise. Distributed weekly, our newsletter is a compilation of upcoming events happening in Beijing, ranging from book talks to embassy lectures and think tank discussions. You can see a sample of the newsletter here and subscribe here.